Monday, January 25, 2010

As we mentioned in a prior post we've been scheduling a build for an upcoming Video Blog with a Stop Motion Puppet as the host. The "Zed Vlog" was actually the wrong name, ooops! The real name of the Video Blog is the "Zorg Vlog". The puppet will be a Foam latex puppet with an Aluminum Wire Armature with replacement heads. The body will be painted with PAX paint and the heads will be painted with Acrylics.

Here's the Body Sculpted Maquette:

Also, he will have his own dedicated animation stage which will stay standard for the Video Blog. This will greatly reduce the amount of time for animation in the hopes of turning out many videos fast.

Here's the Table:

Got to get back to the Magazine it's self for the February Release. Stay Tuned!!!

Wednesday, January 20, 2010

If you haven't heard it's been raining buckets and buckets here in Los Angeles California. This definitely puts a damper on any build that is in progress. But the upside is we can hopefully finish the magazine early. Our release date for the issue is set for February 10th 2010.

Also, we have recently been testing out a free download section for giving the community some extra tools for making Stop Motion Animation. Currently we have a Beta file in this section which has some muzzle flashes and some backdrops for compositing into your shots. We hope in the future to upload some puppet templates, a free library of professionally made sound effects, and some explosions for comping into production shots, all completely FREE!!!

Check out whats currently available at our website: www.stopmotionmagazine.com

The interviews for the Gumby issue have been going very well. We want to send out a big thanks to everyone we've interviewed and will be interviewing.

So for now I'm personally going to stay dry and out of the rain and the cold and keep the production flowing.

Tuesday, January 19, 2010

Super Mega Busy here at the Studio and we've been making all sorts of crazy chaos. One of the things that we've been working on heavily is a series of free how-to videos for the Stop Mo beginner and intermediate builder/animator. One of the reasons for this is that there just is this massive void that separates a beginner builder from an expert. Unless you know someone or interned for a studio, you just end up missing a lot of this information. Hopefully we can bridge the expanse and get more people animating. It would be a shame if the next Leonardo Da Vinci never had a chance to try their hands at Stop Mo.

So here's a video of how to cast plastic puppet heads and custom toys:

We Also had our friend Steve Weintz from Famous Monsters Magazine stop by and pour some plastic "Zombie Dad" puppet heads. We filmed him working and posted it up on YouTube for all to see.

Saturday, January 16, 2010

If you haven't heard already, the Great Iconic Father of Clay Animation Art Clokey passed away this month. We were very sad to hear this news and we offer our deepest condolences to the Clokey family. Art was more then just a man he was the father of a character that has brought joy and happiness to so many.

We have been planning the February Issue of SMM for sometime now. Infact far before the first issue was released. It's a bazaar irony that the issue is being released right after his passing. Many well known animators have stepped forward to contribute interviews and content in tribute to Art and his legendary character Gumby and we hope that this will make for a wonderful tribute to the man we call the "Father of Clay Animation".

On an the upside, we just made a large Van Aken clay purchase for the children's book we have been planning for release in Summer 2010. We don't want to spoil the surprise. But I can say it will be very fun and full of clay.

Also, Victor Akuna (One of our Puppet builders/Animators) came by this week and poured a ton of plastic puppet heads for the "Zombie Dad" web series we are making. They came out great and we will be posting a tutorial on making them on our YouTube Channel soon.We also have just finished a timelapse of the Female Puppet mold making process that we will be casting latex bodies for the series as well. Here it is!!!

Tuesday, January 5, 2010

We'll, it's official!!! Announcing as of today that Stop Motion Magazine is holding it's first annual Stop Motion Film Festival in Los Angeles. The festival will run sometime in August 2010 and will feature only stop motion related short films (Puppets, Clay, Cutout, Pixilation, Legomation, Dinomation, Sand, etc). There will be prizes and awards along with the Grand Prize of the "Purple Monkey" Trophy. Which will be given to the winner of "Best Film" and picked by the audience. Judges will be kept secret for now but a few of the Stop Motion Professional Animators are already on board for the judging panel.

So do you want to enter??? We'll it's easy. Go to our "Festival" page on www.stopmotionmagazine.com and download the entry form, fill it out and send it to us with your DVD or BlueRay Disc, along with the entry fee. There will be a selection process by a group (Not me) who will pick the official entries. Those that are selected will go on to be shown at the festival and will be eligible for the trophy's and prizes. Those not selected (we're sorry).... But you can always submit again with a newer version or a different film.

Location and Official Festival Date will be announced in July. And the deadline for entering the festival is June 15th 2010. So what are you waiting for? Start Animating!!!